2 February 2025
VOLUME 13 – NUMBER 593
James and Izzy’s birthday party
When I went to James and Izzy's party, I played in the their bounce house. Then I had a taco and a cupcake, and I also got a bag with toys and a cup in it. I got a coloring book, a mask, a sticker book, and I got two prizes from a claw machine game.
I also got to play a game with Emma, Brigham, Sophie, Mateo, Ellie, and Charlie, where we stuck a sticker on Spider-Man's face. The next day I had a stomach ache, because I ate too much food, but it was worth it.
Selvin, Yarima, Yaretzie at party
It was James and Israel’s birthday party. When we got there, we played in the bounce house. Itzel was there, and we played.
After that, we went inside and ate. When we came out, we played some more, but then the bouncy house deflated, so we had to blow it up again. Some people set up the bean bag game, so me and Itzel played it.
After awhile, we sang Happy Birthday and got bags and a cupcake. Then people started to leave. Before we left, we got a bag of leftovers, and on the way back, Monte got us some Swig.
Caleb, Quinn, London’s catered snacks
One of my goals this year is to get out of my comfort zone by way of hosting. I decided to throw a girls night and invite some old friends who I haven’t seen much of since moving back to Utah.
I’ve never hosted anything outside of family activities, so I was a little nervous. The nerves kind of translated into cleaning, which reminded me of growing up. Whenever we would have guests come over, my mom would tell us to clean our rooms and other random places that no one was going to see, and we always wondered why.
Sophia and Charlie at family dinner
Well now I feel like I understand—ha ha! I was deep cleaning everything—our pantry, our medicine cabinet, tupperware cabinet, and craft drawers. I was listening to an audiobook while I cleaned and ended up finishing it, which told me I had cleaned about 10.5 hrs in the span of three days!
The girls night ended up being a lot of fun! We painted and just talked and laughed the night away! I was glad I put it all together. Maybe I should host more, so my house can be spotless more often—ha ha!
Isaac reading with Misha
This week was the first week that I worked a full week of 48 hours! It was a really long week, but it felt really nice that I got the maximum hours I could work, with eight hours of overtime, which pays really nicely!
I also got set up with online seminary, since I can’t make it to in-person seminary because of my conflicting work schedule. I am enjoying the online seminary. Once a week on Thursday nights, I get on to a Zoom meeting, which is my weekly class, and then I do the rest of the work online.
Children in bouncy house at party
This week Troy kept bugging me to create a Fortnite account, so that I could play with him. I finally I told him to stop reminding me or I wouldn’t make one. That got him to stop! After a little while I created an account, and he was so happy that he has someone to play with.
After we went to James and Isreal’s party for a little bit, Me, Troy, Kai, Mom, and Dad came home, because we had a dog client coming. Me and Troy went to help out with the dogs.
Just before the client came, we took all of the dogs down to the basement until the client left. While we were in the basement waiting for the client to leave, we played Fortnite and I got three wins in a row! I was so proud of myself. I am glad that Troy helped me create an account because now I can do something that we both enjoy.
Veidi playing Fortnite
Veidi finally got an account for Fortnite, so now we can play without Kai getting mad at Veidi for using his account. So now we can play together, which is so fun because we kept getting so close to winning.
We also got to go to James and Izzy's party. The food there was so good. London catered some awesome snacks, and they also had birria for dinner, which was heavenly! Me, Veidi, Kai, Mom, and Dad had to go home because of a dog client.
Family at James and Israel’s party
I'm taking behavioral neurobiology this semester—it's not as complicated as it sounds. The class could alternatively be called, "The brain controls behavior."
One of the biggest projects of the semester is getting into groups of two or three and preparing a 50-minute presentation. I couldn't attend class the day they had groups, so the three of us that missed were all just put together, and it turns out that we were assigned the very first slot to present.
Owen (11/18/24)
We found out on Friday of last week that we would be presenting on Monday of this week. We were scrambling quite a bit, because we didn't pick our topic, we didn't know the due date until right before, and we didn't choose our groups.
I am happy to report that we were able to put something together, and now that big assignment is behind me. I would not have signed myself up to get it done so soon, so it ended up being a big relief and a blessing to have that out of the way. Maybe someday I'll learn that procrastination is way more stressful for the same amount of work!
Mom, Jen, and Natalie talking
This week I didn't work much. I took a few days off so I could get some school done.
Lately I have been missing our family temple trips due to work. But this week I was finally was able to go and it's always a good experience every time we go. The best part of going to the temple are the donuts afterwards!
For the young women activity this week, we stuffed little toy balls with stuffing for children to play with.
Children blowing bubbles with Grandma
On Friday night Isaac planned a friend get other. It was really fun spending time with friends. Of all the games we played, I really do enjoy playing crazy ball.
Saturday Riley and I went out to lunch and had Panda Express. After lunch we went to Burlington and I got James and Izzy a gift. I also picked out my Sweethearts dress. Riley helped me pick it, and he really likes it.
After I went home, we went to James and Izzy's birthday party. The party was fun, and the little kids really liked it, and I played with them.
Joanna and her playdough food plate
I went to my first BYU game of the school year this week, and it was definitely the one to go to. BYU beat the Baylor Bears, and Connor McGregor—one of the most popular UFC fighters in the world)—was at the game. He even led the students in some of the chants. Everyone was a little confused in the moment as to why he was there, but it was so fun.
On Friday morning, most of the top dogs at the MTC were up in Salt Lake for some trainings. This meant that the final workshop that missionaries see, which is in the format of a play, had some vacancies that needed to be filled, so I subbed for it and led one of the intermission discussions.
Ashton at BYU game with friends
Afterwards, an elder approached me to ask if I knew certain elders that served in Mesa. As he started listing them off, I recognized all of them as really good friends from my mission. One of them was Elder Stepan, one of my former companions.
I asked how he knew them, and he said, “They converted me!” It was only a few months after I returned home from my mission that those elders ran into him, and he ended up getting baptized. It was such a special connection, and amazing to see him serving a mission a few years later.
That evening I went to the temple for the first time on my own in quite a while. It is easy for me to go when it’s with other people, but harder to make time on my own, so that was a big win.
On Saturday I got super sick and have been battling that off all weekend.
Ashton and Elder Saint-Cyr (Mesa convert)
Isaac and I decided to have a party on Friday. We invited a few people, including Will Grappendorf, Sophie Zimmerman, Riley and Ethan Danielson, and Crew Horner. We started playing crazyball, and then, when everyone arrived, we set up the net and played volleyball.
I'm not that great at volleyball, but my team had some crazy plays, and we won both games! By the time we finished our volleyball games, we thought it was dark enough to play some Murder in the Dark. The first round Isaac and I were it, and boy did we smoke everyone! I killed everyone, so I guess you could say Isaac was the moral support—ha ha!
After the games, we talked and had some treats. There were a few competitive arguments, but overall the party was incredibly fun!!!
Children eating pigs in a blanket
Last Sunday, French toast at Mom's and Dad's house was delicious. My favorite part was how many of us were able to come. I love playing with all of the little nieces and nephews.
I'm slightly behind with some school work, because of our trip to California last week, but besides that, school is awesome, and I'm loving what I'm learning.
My ward is great as well. I am still able to meet new people every week, which is always a highlight. At work I don't teach for another month so every evening I get to go in and try to develop my teaching abilities. January has gone well!
Family at James and Israel’s party
As I mentioned in past newsletters, we struggled a lot financially through the last few months of last year. Somehow, Heavenly Father helped us weather that trial, partly because of generosity of family members and a special friend.
As the new year started off, I was worried that our MyPack Dog Training revenue slump would continue, since January and February were really bad months in 2024, but the opposite has happened. For the past four weeks, business has been out of control! I find myself booking trainings or boardings almost every day, and many of the trainings are for two weeks instead of one week.
As we look forward to a few financial challenges, I have learned to take things one step at a time. Because of a glitch with the IRS, we have not been able to run our monthly payroll through the normal systems for several months, so we now owe several thousand dollars in taxes.
Jenny training Dakota
We also need to pay off a personal credit card that has been used to fill the gaps over the past six months, and our third debt project will be to pay off the loan for the new flooring.
Because of the great January we have had, we are on track to have the money to pay our 2024 payroll taxes. Hopefully, our personal tax returns will knock out most of the credit card debt, and that should give us several months to save before our flooring loan comes due in August.
We still have a ways to go, but Heavenly Father is helping us to manage it one step at a time. I have learned to not look too far ahead in His plan, but instead to be thankful for the manna as it comes, little by little, just enough to get by!
Misha on her new donut bed